KOCHI, 8 October 2025: Marine and fisheries experts have emphasised the urgent need for establishing Indian Standards for marine and coastal management to ensure sustainable utilisation and protection of the country’s ocean ecosystems.
The proposal was made during a workshop on marine biodiversity conservation and standardisation, jointly organised by the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Tuesday.
According to the experts, a national framework addressing fisheries stock assessment, climate adaptation, and coastal resource mapping is essential to strengthen India’s marine governance.
“Marine biodiversity is critical for ecosystem stability, fisheries productivity, and climate resilience. However, the absence of uniform monitoring protocols has resulted in fragmented data and weak enforcement,” said Dr. Grinson George, Director, CMFRI, inaugurating the session.
He said CMFRI would extend its scientific expertise to develop a structured framework covering stock assessment, climate resilience metrics, and ecosystem-based management, to be codified under the Indian Standards in collaboration with BIS. The institute would also support training, certification, and open-access repositories to facilitate nationwide adoption.
Shri Virendra Singh, Head of the Environment and Ecology Department, BIS, said the bureau was committed to developing environmental standards and sustainability frameworks to improve the country’s marine fisheries sector.
Experts underscored that nationally recognised standards, aligned with international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), would enhance both conservation outcomes and India’s trade competitiveness.
The workshop also proposed creating an Indian Marine Sustainability Certification System under BIS as a locally relevant and cost-effective alternative to foreign sustainability certifications.
Scientists from CMFRI, the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), the Zoological Survey of India, and other research bodies participated in the discussions.
Among the speakers were Dr. Sujitha Thomas, Dr. Shobana K. S., Dr. B. Nagarajan, and Kumar Sourabh.
